Hello SGland-
Back from the mountains.... it was a year for awe-inspiring weather. Tuesday evening we got a hail storm - not a 5 minute little wushy hailstorm, no, but an hour long, there was a hail-tornado-hail storm. my partner, best friend and I, weathered this out in our three sided, lean-to "cabin". There was a tornado and all the other staff on site (about 60) people were taking shelter in the basement of the dining hall (which I did not even know existed) and we were smoking a bowl watching the storm tear through the mountaintop. The woman who is in charge sent her son out in a truck to look for us. We did not even hear the truck, nevermind see it; the hail was coming down like someone was dumping bags of ice.
No one got hurt; only a few vendors were set up yet and had some tent issues. The tornado took out my adopted parents' tent-- and we spend tuesday night going through all their art and drying it out, but they only lost a few prints, so that is not too bad.
Oh... did i say that just before the storm hit, it was nearly 90 degrees and my partner , friend and i were dancing naked in the rain, singing? The aforementioned young man is calling us the "naked hail dancers".
Though the storm could have been dangerous, we had a powerful experience watching it. it was won of the wonders of nature. My partner did take pictures... hmmm - I wonder if she will post them here? And afterward, with three foot piles of dime sized hail everywhere, the mountain cooled down like some giant refilled the cooler with new ice. it was Brigadoon-- the cold fog rolling down the mountain and over the paths. The temperature dropped about 30 degrees in less than an hour and then it stayed there all week and weekend.
The conference was challenging this year. After tuesday evening's storm it rained all week and the temperature never got above 40. It was cold, icey rain until sunday. At least on sunday it did not rain, but monday, when we all had to pack and leave, it was sunny and 70. Gratitude we did not have to pack out in the rain - that is miserable.
So: lots of events got cancelled, some got rescheduled, we managed opening circle okay and i spun poi, I cancelled my workshop, my partner's workshop went well, we put up the ancestor shrine and it was beautiful, we all got wetter and wetter, and colder and colder.....
It was actually really lovely-- because the weather was so bad, and most of the cabin have no heat, no fireplaces etc... people had to fill their time with other people. There were lots of conversations and lots of new connections made. People were grumpy, of course, but much less so than one would expect and there was lots of singing!!
came home to a dead car--- got a new to me car yesterday-- am off to paint faces today at a little carnivale for disabled children.
happy June everyone
crystos
Back from the mountains.... it was a year for awe-inspiring weather. Tuesday evening we got a hail storm - not a 5 minute little wushy hailstorm, no, but an hour long, there was a hail-tornado-hail storm. my partner, best friend and I, weathered this out in our three sided, lean-to "cabin". There was a tornado and all the other staff on site (about 60) people were taking shelter in the basement of the dining hall (which I did not even know existed) and we were smoking a bowl watching the storm tear through the mountaintop. The woman who is in charge sent her son out in a truck to look for us. We did not even hear the truck, nevermind see it; the hail was coming down like someone was dumping bags of ice.
No one got hurt; only a few vendors were set up yet and had some tent issues. The tornado took out my adopted parents' tent-- and we spend tuesday night going through all their art and drying it out, but they only lost a few prints, so that is not too bad.
Oh... did i say that just before the storm hit, it was nearly 90 degrees and my partner , friend and i were dancing naked in the rain, singing? The aforementioned young man is calling us the "naked hail dancers".
Though the storm could have been dangerous, we had a powerful experience watching it. it was won of the wonders of nature. My partner did take pictures... hmmm - I wonder if she will post them here? And afterward, with three foot piles of dime sized hail everywhere, the mountain cooled down like some giant refilled the cooler with new ice. it was Brigadoon-- the cold fog rolling down the mountain and over the paths. The temperature dropped about 30 degrees in less than an hour and then it stayed there all week and weekend.
The conference was challenging this year. After tuesday evening's storm it rained all week and the temperature never got above 40. It was cold, icey rain until sunday. At least on sunday it did not rain, but monday, when we all had to pack and leave, it was sunny and 70. Gratitude we did not have to pack out in the rain - that is miserable.
So: lots of events got cancelled, some got rescheduled, we managed opening circle okay and i spun poi, I cancelled my workshop, my partner's workshop went well, we put up the ancestor shrine and it was beautiful, we all got wetter and wetter, and colder and colder.....
It was actually really lovely-- because the weather was so bad, and most of the cabin have no heat, no fireplaces etc... people had to fill their time with other people. There were lots of conversations and lots of new connections made. People were grumpy, of course, but much less so than one would expect and there was lots of singing!!
came home to a dead car--- got a new to me car yesterday-- am off to paint faces today at a little carnivale for disabled children.
happy June everyone
crystos